


Making Do

by HedwigsTalons



Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: DIY Project, irrelief
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:47:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23684122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HedwigsTalons/pseuds/HedwigsTalons
Summary: Jeff and Lucille setting up home together for the first time
Comments: 1
Kudos: 10





	Making Do

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TsarinaTorment](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TsarinaTorment/gifts).



> This was written for the IRrelief challenge set by Gumnut. TsarinaTorment set the prompt 'Instructions: Unclear (a DIY project)'

The junk shop was musty. A smell of mildew from old cushions lingered in the air. Broken cane chairs sat alongside antique side tables. A veritable treasure trove waiting to be discovered provided you could spot the treasure underneath the piles of rubbish.

Jeff and Lucille wandered through the dimly lit space pulling out items that looked serviceable. Price tickets were checked and rechecked. Jeff hoped they would be able to haggle; his air force pay didn’t stretch very far and with Lucy between jobs money was tight. A small dining table, two mismatched chairs, a blanket box and bedside units had already been placed in the ever-growing pile.

An excited squeal broke through his calculations.

“Oh Jeff, come see this. It’s perfect.”

He made his way across to where Lucille was moving a set of china dolls off the top of a battered box. The cardboard was dented and the top was held closed with parcel tape.

Jeff looked unconvinced. The unremarkable box bore the image of a fairly plain looking dresser. An early 21st century design from when flat-packed furniture was a staple commodity in many homes. 

“I’m not sure Luce. We don’t really need a dresser and we can’t even tell if all the parts are there.”

“Please Jeff. It’s a design classic. I’ve always wanted one of these and they don’t even want that much for it. You could store your art supplies in it”

“Ok then.” Jeff nodded. 

In saving for their upcoming wedding and new home luxuries had been in short supply in the Taylor-Tracy household. He helped Lucille uncover the rest of the box and carry it across to the counter area. It evidently meant a lot to her and somewhere to organise his paints and brushes sounded nice.

A total was negotiated and Jeff paid out for delivery to their newly allocated family quarters. They themselves would be walking back to the air force base; the bus fare was an extravagance too far when they had a whole apartment to try and furnish.

xoxoxox

Lucille peeled the packing tape off the box, opened it with almost reverential care, and started carefully setting out the pieces. Piles of bolts and washers were scrabbled out of corners and placed in neat piles. Sections of wood were stacked to one side, carefully arranged in size order for ease of identification. Eventually, sandwiched between two cupboard door fronts, the instruction book was unearthed.

Or at least half the instruction book.

The front section of the book was missing entirely. A block of pages was water damaged and yellowed beyond legibility. Lucille sighed and flipped to the back of the booklet. It looked like Jeff’s prediction that there would be bits missing was about to be proved correct, despite the optimistic ‘complete’ scrawled on the side of the box. Not that they could check against a parts list which had evidently only appeared in the front of the book and was not repeated in the multiple translations of the instructions that followed.

“So, would you rather work in Danish, Estonian or Korean?” Lucille asked.

“Well seeing as I don’t know any of those languages lets hope the pictures are clear.”

The pictures weren’t clear.

It took several false starts, two rebuilds and no small amount of cursing before something even remotely resembling the dresser pictured on the box was produced.

Eventually, they were able to sit back and admire their handiwork. So what if one of the back corners was propped up on a stack of books in place of an absent leg, or that a shelf was missing inside one of the cupboards. It had taken several hours and a lot of creative interpretation but it was theirs. Jeff had to admit that even with its faults the finished article was pleasing. As Lucy had said, it was a classic. He might be the visual artist in the relationship but Lucille had an eye for design. 

Laying in the darkness that night Jeff felt incredibly lucky. Ok, their bed was currently a pile of blankets and quilts on the floor, the bedside units towering above them. A proper frame and mattress would have to wait until next month and the next pay packet. This was the start of a new chapter in their lives. Over time they would make the non-descript apartment with its blank magnolia walls and thin grey carpet a proper home. In just three short months time they would be married. 

Jeff looked at the mess of red hair draped across him where Lucille was using his shoulder as a pillow and allowed himself to gently stroke the loose locks. This would be the first of a lifetime of nights together under their own roof. Jeff closed his eyes and dreamed of the future.


End file.
